Still talkin' bout canning

I'm still canning up some banana peppers. They just keep on producing and producing. I've picked about 2 and 1/2 bushel so far this year off of forty some plants and I still have a bunch to pick. I'm making more kraut. I should have enough kraut to do me for a week or 50! I'm going to can me a few green tomatoes also. I don't like the texture as well as fresh but green tomatoes in January are kinda rare. I may be sick of them now but middle of winter I'll settle for a softer version of green tomatoes fried up with some hot peppers. My wife cut up another 2 quarts of bell peppers for freezing. We have 2 gallon bags full of smaller bags cut up and froze and the 2 quarts she just cut up. That should do until next summer. We take smaller bags and put enough in them for what we need and then we put them in a gallon bag so we can keep them all together and we still can get out a small portion for breakfast burritos or meatloaf or whatever we are making. We've also put up some apples. I don't know how long they'll last because Blake wants them everyday with hot biscuits and butter. Now we need to get a hog so we can have fresh sausage to go with all that. Well, I'm getting hungry so I better go.

The latest addition to the farm

We've been wanting some more guineas for awhile now. I wanted someone on bug patrol in the yard and garden and no one could do it better. They are little now but by next spring they will be bug eating, snake chasing, loud screeching watch dogs. We have 7 and I might buy another 8 or so.

I'm thinking about raising them and selling them. They are great sellers here. Everyone wants them or has them now. I used to have a bunch of guineas in one pen and right beside them I had a waterhole full of geese. I've never heard such a thing in my life. The geese would start and then the guineas would join in and you could hear it two ridges over. Most people would find it annoying but I loved it. All I need now is a gaggle of geese.

I'm going to miss my birds.

I don't know what I'm going to do when my hummingbirds go south. They are great stress relievers. I love watching them fight and drink from the feeders and the flowers in the yard. I like watching them better than the big birds out front on the other feeder. I can get so much closer to the hummingbirds. I've even got buzzed a few times. That is a little to close; especially to my head. I read the other day that if you stand still and put your finger against the feeder the hummingbirds will light on your finger and drink from the feeder. I haven't tried it yet but I will. I love the sound of hummingbirds around.

They live in the trees behind the house. I've never seen a nest yet, but it's so small it would be hard to see anyway. I guess I'm must find another relaxing hobby. Winter is right around the corner and I'm going to need something to keep me busy but in a relaxing way.

First Day of Kindergarten

Blake's first day of kindergarten was on Sept. 1. He loved it and had a great time. My wife and I had a better time than we expected. It's so hard to just let someone else be responsible for the safety and well-being of our child. It went really smooth though. There were no tears shed from either side; thank God. He came home still very excited, but he was exhausted and cranky. He told us many tales of his great journey and then fell asleep on the couch. All in all a great first day.

It's now his third day and he still loves it. I think he's a little smitten with his lady bus driver. Every time we mention her he gets a silly grin on his face. We're just glad that he loves it, that's right loves it, not likes it. That's pretty rare. That reminds me of something he told my wife the evening of the first day; he said mommy did you enjoy all the piece and quiet while I was at school.